Bill O’Brien would never admit it because good coaches are always nervous before games, especially season-openers. But he might be more anxious than he is right now if not for a certain NFL transaction that occurred nine months ago.

Had Doug Marrone not decided to leave Syracuse and head across state to become the new head coach of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, O’Brien would be preparing to face his best friend in coaching. That’s bad enough. Coaches hate going against good friends. But it’s worse when the opponent is as similar as Marrone is in style and content to O’Brien. Moreover, Marrone really looks like an up-n-comer -- organized, all business and able to switch gears on the fly.

Instead, O’Brien’s Penn State Nittany Lions will face a first-time head coach in Scott Shafer and a new offensive coordinator in George McDonald who’s better known as a recruiter than a strategist.

We don’t know how the Shafer/McDonald paring will turn out but it likely won’t be as formidable – especially with a pair of rookie quarterbacks who haven’t played a snap – as what PSU could have faced if Marrone and the OC he took to Buffalo, Nathaniel Hackett, were still running the Syracuse show.

Last year, the Orange offensive staff was so confident in itself that it completely retooled its scheme in August camp. The rapid-fire attack that emerged really got rolling the second half of the 2012 season with quarterback Ryan Nassib and running backs Jerome Smith and Prince-Tyson Gulley all enjoying big years.

Marrone’s offense, a hybrid of pro-style and West Coast philosophies, was multiple, used lots of tight ends, spread the ball all over the field and ran a ton of snaps. Sound familiar? It was borderline unstoppable the last seven games as SU ran up 36 points per outing.

Because Marrone is gone along with virtually the entire SU offensive staff, it’s hard to define how the Orange will deploy its weaponry on Saturday in MetLife Stadium.

But, considering the tools at hand and the inexperience of both the staff and the QBs, it’s safe to guess Syracuse will try very hard to run it over the left side and down Penn State’s throat.

In fact, that certainly will be the tactic of expediency for both sides. Whichever team can smash-mouth it better has a leg up on winning the game. To an extent, that’s always true. Run the ball, stop the run, you win. But in this game, it’s a more important variable than usual.

SU has the makings of a very good left side of its O-line in senior center Macky MacPherson (grandson of longtime SU and college Hall-of-Fame coach Dick MacPherson) and Pittsburgh-bred left tackle Sean Hickey. If soph returning starter Rob Trudo meshes in well in moving from right to left guard, the Orange have a left side that poses a serious challenge to a Penn State D-line that has lost its best run-stopper in Jordan Hill.

The question is, what’s to stop Penn State from loading up the box with reinforcements, walking its safeties up and daring SU’s quarterback to hurt them? There has been scant evidence that the Orange wideouts can burn such a tactic. And Syracuse’s options at quarterback are virtual unknowns.

What we do know is that big Drew Allen should play most of the game if Shafer wants a true quarterback. He’s a sizable kid (6-5, 226) with a cannon arm who already graduated from Oklahoma from whence he transferred.

Allen was simply unlucky and the victim of numbers at OU, first stuck behind Sam Bradford, then Landry Jones, and finally huge Blake Bell last season when Bob Stoops needed an answer for third-and-shorts. Evidence is, Allen is a much more capable talent than his barren record attests.

But if the Orange O-line begins winning at scrimmage, it might be more expeditious simply to plug in the better running QB, soph Terrel Hunt, and maybe work out of the Pistol, which Syracuse showed in camp until it closed up practices two weeks ago.

On the other side, Penn State should be able to run effectively, too, with an established offensive line and bulldozer Zach Zwinak.

So, the seed question of the game becomes this: Which rookie quarterback emerges from the game’s quartet of unknowns and shows he can color outside the lines? And which offensive staff not only is confident enough to allow such freedom but also has the chops to implement it?

We’re all flying blind here. But I’ll go with Penn State.

Christian Hackenberg is Allen’s counterpart on the Penn State side. He’s the one with the arm that can complete throws PSU has not been accustomed to making the last few years. And Penn State has a couple of established WR threats who’ve proven they can go get it in Allen Robinson and Brandon Moseby-Felder as well as a bunch of tight ends who can create space and catch.

Does O’Brien unleash the offense first time out of the box with a raw rookie quarterback? How much run does Tyler Ferguson get? Can PSU’s O-line control scrimmage as SU’s might?

Too many unanswerable questions. That’s what an opener always presents. You just don’t know who’s showing up the first week and with all the new faces, there’s no way of really even speculating with any assurance.

I would surmise this much: With so many fresh parts on both offenses and running attacks appearing to be the most likely mode of travel, that under play (<51) looks mighty inviting.